Review of Finnair flight Paris Helsinki in Business

Airline Finnair
Flight AY1578
Class Business
Seat 1F
Aircraft Airbus A319
Flight time 02:35
Take-off 15 Mar 23, 19:10
Arrival at 15 Mar 23, 22:45
AY   #32 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 205 reviews
Jett Tyler
By GOLD 1196
Published on 5th April 2023

Doing Business- Nordic Style!


Another flight on one of my favourite airlines, FINNAIR!


I was doing a OneWorld mile-run to secure my usual OneWorld Ruby status. I opted to make it a good one and I included a Paris to Oslo route with a stop overnight in Helsinki. Flying with Finnair the cost of two economy class flights paid upfront came to £110 (converted from Euro at the time of booking).


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Finnair's A320-family fleet is no stranger to me, but this marks my first time flying them in their Euro-Business product.


Routing


I had been given four FREE UPGRADE Vouchers with Finnair Plus for going to their Finnair Gold status (which is OneWorld Sapphire) and I felt very keen to cash at least one of those vouchers in. Which brings us to this flight.


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I've had the pleasure of flying on Finnair's A350-900 in business class between London & Helsinki. I know the A320 will be a cabin downgrade by comparison.


Given Finnair is marking their Centenary in late 2023, I figured this would be a great move to experience some more of their European network outside the usual LHR-HEL or HEL-LHR which I have done multiple times already. It was a great continuation started by my June 2022 flights on the airline as well as my recent HEL-TFS flight!


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I've flown Finnair A320-family aircraft with the airline in the past to/from London, Tenerife, Oulu, Stockholm & Oslo in the past.


I've flown AY Business Class in Europe before on the Airbus A350-900 (twice) and Airbus A330-300, so I was interested in experiencing this product in its intended setting- an Airbus A319!


Paris CDG & Extime Lounge


Finnair flies from Terminal 2B at Paris Charles de Gaulle. There are a mix of European services from this terminal within the Schengen Area also operated by the likes of easyJet, Air Baltic, Air Serbia and Air Malta. Non-Schengen flights by Finnair's OneWorld partners include American Airlines, British Airways, Royal Air Maroc. El Al, Air Austral and Air Tahiti Nui also operate from this area.
These airlines are correct as of March/April 2023.


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For a day trip, I found a 20EUR ticket on the Paris Metro service to be the best means of commuting.


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Most of the Terminal 2 facilities are easily accessed when coming off the Paris Metro service, which I was on. You can access Paris for a day from CDG Airport on the Metro for 20EUR (£17.50/$22US) which covers all Five Metro Zones, including Paris CDG. There are cheaper rates in the city centre if you use alternative means to get to/from Paris CDG Airport.


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I do love the iconic departure board at Paris CDG Airport, its a Paris landmark in my opinion!


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I had access to Priority Security, so I was through pretty quickly on this occasion. I've never had any major hold ups travelling out of Paris CDG, my issues in the past have been on arrival. As I exited security I went through the Duty Free store, but not before seeing an easyJet Airbus A320 pulling up after its flight.


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All the Terminal 2B airlines use the Extime Lounge as a contract lounge. There seems to be some differing views on whether you can access this lounge without a premium class flight or premium status level, the only source I could find regarding buying access puts this lounge at entry for 110EUR (£96 or $120/US). It was a nice place to visit, but I think paying that much means you have more money than sense!


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Overall it was a comfortable and well decorated lounge, there was plenty of facilities to charge devices using both plug sockets (EU of course) and USB ports. I opted to spend most my time in the comfortable armchairs.


Food was quite the mix of light bites and drinks of all types, even champagne was offered- so I opted to enjoy a glass. I tried a beef and onion stew with rice then followed up with some turkey & cheese toasted sandwiches. I was very impressed by the offerings. As El Al uses this lounge, I did notice a separate food preparation area for Kosher food. A small kids area took up a bit of space by the entrance/exit.



My time in the lounge came to end, but I was able to see my flight arriving in from Helsinki Vantaa. I couldn't get any good photos as there were dots over the window making it hard to photograph or film anything. But I made my way to the Gate, as I didn't have to leave the Schengen Area this time, for a change, I didn't have to worry about adding extra time to make my way through passport control formalities.


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Finnair AY1578


Well how did doing "Business the Nordic Way" turn out? Well read this to find out or watch my video as well…



My flight this fine spring evening would be operated by a 2003-built Airbus A319-ceo (OH-LXH). This aircraft has spent its entire 20 year career thus far flying for Finnair. During the pandemic it was placed in storage for nearly 2 years in Helsinki, Chalons, Tarbres and Prague at various times, formally coming back into the Finnair fleet in early October 2022. Prior to the introduction of the Eurowhite livery AY uses today, it wore the older "Blue Tail" Eurowhite livery from 2003 until 2012.


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Given the A319's are no longer a firm favourite as they once were in the 2000s, these planes are likely to be the first up for retirement when Finnair opts to go ahead with renewing their Airbus A320-family fleet. Time will tell on their fleet plans, however I think it'll be very likely that Airbus will see an order from Finnair for the Airbus A220 and/or Airbus A320-neo.


Travelling in business class, I was in Group 1, I was walking past the gate when they announced they were ready to begin boarding Group 1, so by sheer luck and coincidence I was to be the first person to board the plane that evening. Oh man it really felt good to be the first PAX on board, never done that before, unlikely to do so again!



I took my seat which I had reserved Row 1, Seat F. It was basically the same as the seat experience I had on my economy class flight from Helsinki to Tenerife a month earlier (you can check that cool report out here). A bottle of water was provided to all customers and the middle seat was blocked off- as is customary on Euro Business flights.



We ran a slight delay leaving Paris CDG, but it was a minor one. We were going to make most of that up during this flight across half of Europe.


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During our taxi we passed Air France Concorde F-BVFF, which stands guard as a monument to Paris CDG & Air France's contribution to pioneering supersonic commercial flight.


We made the taxi across Paris CDG, which seemed to take us to a Runway on the North. We eventually got our turn and away we departed as the sun set around Northern France.



This slightly older Airbus A319 offered fold down screens which the crew used for the emergency procedure demonstration as well as showing the in-flight map for the first section of the flight. Eventually the crew put a playlist on which consisted of two programs: Gordon Ramsey travel & cooking show featuring Summer Finnish delicacies and a popular Moomin cartoon episode.


The plane was fitted with a Wi-Fi box on the fuselage, so in-flight WIFI packages were offered. If you fly Finnair business class or hold Finnair Gold or Platinum Status (OneWorld Sapphire or Emerald) you get 30 minutes free wi-fi before having to pay for extra. I have shared a screenshot of the full flight fares Finnair offer for on-board WiFi.


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Onto the food service which was the main focal point on this flight due to the lack of personal IFE or views out the window (due to it being night). An initial drink service saw me opt for a cognac as Finnair offers a really nice choice of drink in this cool blue glass.


The main dinner service was a chicken dinner alongside a side salad, a warm bread roll (not shown) and a chocolate cookie. I opted to have a red wine and some iconic Finnair Blueberry juice alongside it. A hot drink service was offered at the end of the dinner service, I opted for a tea which I used to go with my chocolate cookie.


I'm also not ashamed to admit I also conceded to the offer of another delicious cognac from the amazing flight attendant who had her hands full on this less than 3hr flight!



The flight passed through over Germany, after hopping over the Baltic Sea and across part of southern Sweden, it was time to begin our arrival into Helsinki Airport. 


If the inflight map is not available on the IFE Screens, then you can easily access it yourself on your phone through the Finnair NORDIC SKY Portal inflight. The only downside is that Finnair short-haul planes don't have inflight charging ports on offer… at least yet.


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We passed the city during our decent, which was visible out of the right side of the plane, passing the airport we then turned around just North of the Airport to make our arrival onto Runway 15.


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There were some really nice views of Helsinki city as we flew over the Finnish Capital on our way into the airport.


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We came down onto Runway 15, and then taxied over to our Gate for the night. We parked next to a Nordic Regional Airlines (NorRA) operated Embraer ERJ-190. If you think flying 3 hours on a Finnair A319 or A320 is not the best option, try doing it on one of those! Finnair/NorRA operate the ERJ-190 on Helsinki 3 hour services to Manchester and Dublin!!!


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I left the plane ready for a long overnight in the Terminal ahead of me (yet again!). As I was due in around 23:00pm in Helsinki with a 07:30am flight out to Oslo, Norway the next day, I figured the extensive cost of an airport hotel a bit too much to justify.


Luckily Helsinki Airport offered me the pre-knowledge of my Gate for the next flight- Gate 25, which turned out to be by the Finnair Schengen Lounge.


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You might be asking yourselves some questions now:
How was it staying in an Airport overnight?
How has Norway, a non-EU country, counted as a Schengen Area destination?
How is a Finnair "Euro Business" experience like on a shorter inter-Scandinavia flight? 


All that will be revealed in the next FLIGHT REPORT Article- coming up very soon!

See more

Verdict

Finnair

8.3/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi7.0
Meal/catering9.0

Extime Lounge - 2B

7.5/10
Comfort9.0
Meal/catering7.0
Entertainment/wifi6.0
Services8.0

Paris - CDG

8.0/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness9.0

Helsinki - HEL

8.8/10
Efficiency9.0
Access8.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

Paris CDG & Extime Lounge- Amazing and very efficient airport experience from Paris CDG. The airport lounge was really good and I could vouch for this place as a good spot for a long stop over between flights. The place doesn't have shower facilities which could pose an issue for people coming off long-haul flights and moving onto shorter hops in Europe.

Finnair- As much as I love their business class already, they really put on a good show for this flight. I know "Euro Business" is a controversial subject in the world of Frequent Flyers, but the service was amazing despite the subpar seating. Though I am glad I cashed in a voucher I was awarded through my status upgrade against paying up front!

Helsinki Vantaa- I'll discuss more in the next report!

Information on the route Paris (CDG) Helsinki (HEL)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 40 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Paris (CDG) → Helsinki (HEL).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Air France avec 7.5/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 2 heures et 55 minutes.

  More information

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